Thanks for the Memories
by GryffinRawr
Summary: A bit of backstory for the mysterious Whispering Wizard of Knockturn Alley - I give you, Uzair Vallejo


**QLFC - Keeper -** **Write about the Whispering Wizard**

 **I have named him Uzair Vallejo**

 **Word Count: 1182 (inc title)**

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Thanks for the Memories

 _Uzair stumbled backwards, his open palm smearing blood against the cave wall as he watched the Inferni surge from the lake. His cries of warning and terror tangled in the base of his throat;he choked on air._

 _The little elf had long since disappeared, leaving the figure alone on the crystal rock. Uzair had watched, still unsure, as his old classmate had dragged himself to the edge of the black lake. It had been over almost as soon as it had started. The second Regulus' hand had touched the water the bodies had grasped onto him. He had struggled - barely - but they were too much for him and it wasn't long before they pulled him under._

 _When his wits returned to him, Uzair fled from the cavern before the creatures sensed his presence. He ran through the stone tunnel and across the hard packed sand. He scrambled up the cliffside and through the fields. He ran until his legs gave way beneath him, and his head struck the earth._

X

Uzair awoke with a start. He scrambled around, grateful to feel the slick cobbles beneath his fingers rather than the soft earth of that cliffside. It was damp - it was always damp - but the brick at his back was warm, which could only mean it was nearing dawn. Uzair had made his nest at the base of a great chimney for one of the wealthier tenants of this godless alley, which meant the fire cooking his breakfast was one of the few things keeping Uzair alive.

It had been almost 17 years since that awful night on that wretched beach. Uzair had had a life before that, a career, people who cared about him. Now he was friendless, penniless and forced to roam Knockturn Alley in search of someone, anyone, who could help him.

When Uzair had been found and returned to society, the first thing he had done was go to the authorities. His Ravenclaw logic told him that this needed to be dealt with by the highest authority possible, but he was laughed away at almost every door. The minister, even the press, found his tale to be so far fetched that it could never have happened. He must be mad.

"I know," he whispered frowning down at his hands in their tattered gloves. His head twitched and ticked and he looked around for an audience that didn't exist. He brandished fists at them, leaping to his feet in defiance of nothing. "I know it happened. It happens every night, every time I close my eyes." Uzair screwed his eyes closed for a second and they popped open almost immediately - the look was wild and frightened.

X

" _No! You have to listen to me. There is a cave on the coast that is filled with dark magic! I saw it with my own eyes. The Inferni within swallowed poor Regulus Black whole!"_

 _The Healer regarded him solemnly from his desk, he peered over the top of steepled fingers and his lips were pressed into a tight line. "It has been three years now, Uzair. Three years since you claim to have visited this cave and witnessed this horror and we have made no progress. You cling to this delusion and yet you can provide no proof."_

" _I was there! Look, look at this scar!" he proffered his hand showing the pale scar in the hollow of his palm. He had used it for the blood sacrifice that granted him entry and it had never properly healed._

 _The doctor sighed, shaking his head wearily. "You were found covered in cuts and bruises from your fall. You were miles and miles from any coast and not even you can guide anyone back to this cave you speak of. It didn't happen, Uzair."_

 _Pictures, pencils and empty glasses rattled as Uzair slammed his hands down on the desk, roaring in frustration. "I am telling you with Merlin as my witness, there is a cave of such darkness it can only have been made by one man! The Dark Lord lives!"_

 _It was the final nail in the coffin that sealed Uzair's fate. The doctor scoffed, pushing his chair back and moving to stand up. "Voldemort," he ignored Uzair's hiss at the name, "was vanquished over a year ago. He is no more alive than Merlin is. This has gone on for too long Uzair; I'm going to have to refer you properly."_

X

They had suggested St. Mungo's to his mother who had wept silently into her hands as the doctors delivered their verdict, but Uzair had known that if he allowed them to catch him he would never be able to warn anyone.

So he had disappeared. A scattering of Floo dust around the fireplace was the only indication of where he had gone and the streets aged him so much that no one ever recognised him again. The aurors and magical law enforcement didn't give a damn about another scruff haunting Knockturn Alley.

Though now there were whispers in the air that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back and on the rise once more. That he was gathering his forces and information, poised and ready to take down the ministry and pick up where he left off.

Uzair scurried forward, ducking under archways until something snagged his attention. A ragged poster clung to one wall, and a depthless hole stood beside it. Uzair felt drawn to it, something pulled him in and, cocking his head to one side, he moved closer. A breeze came from within, though there was no light.

"So dark," he whispered to himself. People moved around him, though the Alley was much more subdued than previously. No one paid any attention to him. "So still and dark, so deep and still and dark," he whispered. His voice took on a childlike quality.

A slight sound emenated from the hole, so quiet that Uzair wasn't sure he heard it. Perhaps it was his imagination - or his madness. Soon, it grew louder until he could tell it was the rushing of water and the moans of the dead.

"No," he whispered desperately still staring into the darkness. "No, no, no. I'm not going back. I can't go back."

He tried in vain to move, but something held him trapped against that wall. "No, he knows, how can he know?" he moaned in terror. "The cave, I'm sorry, I'll never tell anyone, please just let me go!"

To an outsider, his whispering was frantic, incoherent and deranged, the people on the street gave him a wide berth but still Uzair was trapped. He closed his eyes, seeing at once the cave and the Inferni and seeing Regulus be dragged into that infinite pool.

A boy walked past him, knocking his shoulder against Uzair's back causing him to stumble. The spell was broken and he stumbled away from the hole, looking at the retreating figure that had freed him. The boy glanced back, black hair falling across brilliant green eyes.

"The cave," Uzair whispered, "he knows. No, no, no."

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 **Let me know what you think!**

 **GryffinRawr x**


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